and Elead, whom the men of Gath that were born in the land slew, because they came down to take away their cattle. 22And Ephraim their father mourned many days, and his brethren came to comfort him. 23And he went in to his wife, and she conceived, and bare a son, and he called his name Beriah, because it went evil with his house. 24And his daughter was Sheerah, who built Beth-horon the nether and the upper, and Uzzen-sheerah. 25And Rephah was his son, and Resheph, and Telah his son, and Tahan his son; 26Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son; [1]27Nun his son, Joshua his son. 28And their possessions and habitations were Beth-el and the [2]towns thereof, and eastward
21. the men of Gath that were born in the land] i.e. the Philistine population.
they came down) This phrase suits a descent from the hills of Ephraim into the Philistine lowlands. The raid presumably took place after the period of the Exodus and the settlement of Israel in Canaan. Yet it is also possible that the story should be classed with certain traditions which ignore the narrative of the Egyptian sojourn and the Exodus—see Cook, Ency. Brit.11, s.v. Genesis, p. 584, col. 2.
22. And Ephraim their father] i.e. the tribe, or district, to which the clans, Ezer and Elead, belonged.
23. Beriah, because it went evil] Heb. Beri'ah because it went berā'ah], a play on the sound of the name. This is a feature characteristic of the patriarchal narratives in Genesis, cp. Gen. xxx. 11, etc. It is interesting to find it in the tradition upon which the Chronicler here depends. Cp. also iv. 9 (note).
24. Beth-horon] See vi. 68, note.
28, 29. Settlements of the Sons of Joseph.
The writer of these verses does not intend to give a full list of the seats of Ephraim (ver. 28) and Manasseh (ver. 29); but apparently to indicate the area and position of their territory by the mention of towns on the borders.
28. Beth-el] the southern boundary. Beth-el is the modern Beitîn, ten miles N. of Jerusalem (Bädeker, Pal.5, p. 217). The city was on the border of Ephraim and Benjamin and in Josh. xviii. 22 is assigned to Benjamin, but it was originally conquered by Ephraim (Judg. i. 22), and during the division of the kingdom it belonged to the North: cp. 1 Kin. xii. 29, 32; 2 Chr. xiii. 19, note.
